Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Space Systems has finished assembly and testing of its Dream Chaser spacecraft and is getting ready to ship it from its Louisville headquarters to NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

The Dream Chaser will undergo a series of tests at Dryden, including runway tow, ground resonance and a captive carry flight.

“We are one step closer to returning U.S. astronauts on a U.S. vehicle to the International Space Station and in doing so continuing the long standing and proud legacy that was the Space Shuttle program,” Mark Sirangelo, head of SNC’s Space Systems, said in a news release.

The Dream Chaser is the only lifting body vehicle that NASA is funding in its Commercial Crew Program — a new private-based approach to developing technology for the next generation of space travel. The other two finalists are using a capsule design.

“This will be the first full scale flight test of the Dream Chaser lifting body and will demonstrate the unique capability of our spacecraft to land on a runway,” Jim Voss, program manager on Dream Chaser at Sierra Nevada, said in a news release. “This is a huge step forward for the SNC and NASA teams towards providing our nation with safe and reliable transportation to the International Space Station.”

Kristen Leigh Painter was a former business reporter who focused on airlines and aerospace coverage. She joined The Post in September 2011 and departed for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in August 2014. She graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a master's in journalism after earning a bachelor's in history from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse.

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